Thursday, August 30, 2012

Arizona is one of the few to still be enforce immigration laws

Arizona is one of the few to still be enforce immigration laws

I am somewhat conflicted about the tactics being used by Arpaio as of late but with the extreme amount of violence coming from the Mexican cartels and illegal immigrants as well as the fact that these people know very well what they are doing is illegal. I have no problem with legal immigration. Due to recent actions by Barack Obama in regards to immigration, Arizona might be giving the anti-immigrant attacks a rest in its legislature, but out on the streets not much has changed. On Tuesday Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced the launch of “Operation Desert Sky,” an airborne version of his controversial crime sweeps. This time he wants to send 30 pilots into the air with M-16s and a .50-caliber machine gun so they can intercept people trying to illegally cross the border.

“We’re going to use our automatic weapons if we have to, and I’m tired of my deputies having to chase these people and I’m sure the air posse will be able to spot these guys running as they do constantly from us,” Arpaio told Phoenix’s KSAZ.

Background: Mexico on Tuesday asked a federal court in Arizona to declare the state’s new immigration law unconstitutional, arguing that the country’s own interests and its citizens’ rights are at stake. Lawyers for Mexico on Tuesday submitted a legal brief in support of one of five lawsuits challenging the law. The law will take effect July 29 unless implementation is blocked by a court. The law generally requires police investigating another incident or crime to ask people about their immigration status if there’s a “reasonable suspicion” they’re in the country illegally. It also makes being in Arizona illegally a misdemeanor, and it prohibits seeking day-labor work along the state’s streets.

Arizona’s policy, which President Felipe Calderon derided during a recent U.S. trip as “discriminatory,” states police can’t randomly stop people and demand papers, and the law prohibits racial profiling. Mexican law, however, requires law enforcement officials “to demand that foreigners prove their legal presence in the country before attending to any issues.”